Scheduling and Records Software

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Butterfly6

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Our grad school psychology clinic is looking to upgrade software and hardware (hopefully), and I agreed to do some of the legwork. Anyone have experience or recommendations for the following?

Scheduling software
Billing software
Telehealth hardware & software
Computerized records software
Digital recording hardware & software for training purposes

Any info you have is welcome. I would much rather here end user recommendations than some pitch from a salesperson who won't actually use it.

Thanks!
 
Our grad school psychology clinic is looking to upgrade software and hardware (hopefully), and I agreed to do some of the legwork. Anyone have experience or recommendations for the following?

Scheduling software
Billing software
Telehealth hardware & software
Computerized records software
Digital recording hardware & software for training purposes

Any info you have is welcome. I would much rather here end user recommendations than some pitch from a salesperson who won't actually use it.

Thanks!

I've been in AMC settings using 2 different EMR/billing/scheduling systems... AllScripts, and EPIC. AllScripts is ok, you can learn it relatively quickly, and for all intents and purposes did its job. EPIC, I am told, is considered the luxury model... and it is good. I still have problems finding things in it, and it is a little less intuitive, but you can do almost everything in it, which is convenient. From what I hear, EPIC is incredibly expensive to purchase, FWIW.
 
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Our practice is currently in the market for a similar product. The owner is meeting with people at similar practices and discussing what they use. This might be a good strategy for you. Contact other similar grad clinics and see what they use. Perhaps your DCT could utilize the list serve that many DCT's participate in to put this question out there.

Best,
Dr. E
 
I will say I am not a fan of Allscripts Enterprise. I used this exclusively for my dissertation within primary care and put in a TON of legwork to get them to be able to use an electronic screener. From what I gather from the IT dept (big IT dept that supports a med school, so we're not talking small bones btw) they were very limited in their ability to be flexible and work with the Allscripts software. Ultimately, we had to find a round about method to get my awesome screener data into their EMR and it was a hassle. Also, I dont know how many practitioners you have, but Allscripts Enterprise limited the number of physicians I could track to 20 per day, which also seems ridiculous to me.

Honestly, I'd look at free software (practice fusion) were I to have my own practice or steer my graduate program in a certain direction first, and I'd probably never look at Allscripts again, even though I understand it's one of the big names.
 
There's free software? Sweet.
 
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There is a Yahoo Group for Mental Health Billing (PM me if you can't find a like through Dr. Google), and there have been quite a few discussions about billing/scheduling software options out there.

Electronic Medical Record software.....There are *huge* differences in cost & functionality...so shop wisely. I have used 2 versions of EPIC at my last two Uni hospitals, and I have mixed reviews. Cost-wise I don't think they are worth it, as they are stupid expensive and require updates, but for the scale of the hospital systems it was basically required. Ironically, CPRS (VA system) was a frankenstein program (all patched together and ugly), but it worked pretty well. Billing was integrated into the EMR and scheduling somehow integrated too (but I think there was a lot more support staff to make that portion work). The above are true electronic medical record systems that integrate all sorts of bells and whistles.

There are smaller/cheaper/free software options that can address individual needs like billing, scheduling, etc....but an "All-in-one" solution will be pricey and usually a compromise in one or more areas.

Billing....Office Ally, which can be free to the user to submit billing for insurance (there is a cap on the # of Medicare pts per month before it costs a charge), but they are very well regarded in the PP sector for psych. Many places offer trials, but for larger systems (more than a 5-10 clinician group practice) it isn't really feasible. In my former life we built a few difference systems for boutique places, but that option is very niche....since off the shelf is cheaper and enterprise systems are more robust but MUCH more costly.

Scheduling....not sure. I use EPIC (out-pt...still being implemented) and Google Calendar (w. FT admin staff, also for out-pt), but no identifiable information can be posted, which can be tricky and a hassle.

I'm not sure there are perfect solutions for either, but if you can figure out "good enough" for your budget, that is probably the best you can hope for with this stuff. Scalability is really going to be the primary factor limiting your choices. If you are looking for a <$1k solution v. $5k v. $100k v. $1m+. Yes...they get 7 figure. Nuts.

*edited to clarify a couple of things*
 
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I used practice fusion (which is free) in a small practice (<10 providers), and it met our needs nicely. At the time there was no support for iPhone, which was aggravating but that may have changed since I last used it.
 
I used practice fusion as well, my only complaint was that it was slow, but that might have been a clinic network issue rather than a software -- since practice fusion is web based.

They did add iPad support as far as I know. They just didn't give us students permission to do so....

Also, we are checking out TONIC for BH screening on iPads, have you all used it or a competitor (if there is one)?
 
Our grad school psychology clinic is looking to upgrade software and hardware (hopefully), and I agreed to do some of the legwork. Anyone have experience or recommendations for the following?

Scheduling software
Billing software
Telehealth hardware & software
Computerized records software
Digital recording hardware & software for training purposes

Any info you have is welcome. I would much rather here end user recommendations than some pitch from a salesperson who won't actually use it.

Thanks!
If it's just a school clinic I'd go with Titanium for records and scheduling. Everything else is overkill. Epic is EMR for large interdisciplinary organizations.

There's also Point and Click, but Titanium works better overall.
 
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